Groovin' in The SIX …

The Line Up

The 4th Annual Toronto Funk & Soul Festival will be held at Lee’s Palace on Saturday June 8th! The festival is a celebration of some of Canada’s leading funk, soul and neo-soul artists.

Confirmed for this year’s festival are two time Juno Award Winner Liberty Silver, Coldjack & Kollette Easy. Neo-soul artist Denver Haylee debuts music from her newly released album, and Levi Loblack will do a tribute performance to the late James Ingram.

DJs K-Smooth & G-Nice will remember Michael Jackson on the 10th anniversary of his passing, while all the while ensuring that your dance floor experience is one not to be forgotten!

LIBERTY SILVER

Liberty Silver is a Canadian singer, based in Toronto, Ontario.

She won two 1985 Juno Awards, one for Best R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (“Lost Somewhere Inside Your Love”) and the other for Best Reggae/Calypso Recording (“Heaven Must Have Sent You” with Otis Gayle). She has been nominated for a Juno award a total of five times.

As a teenager, she performed in a reggae band which performed in New York City as an opening act for Bob Marley at Madison Square Garden.

She appeared on the platinum selling 1985 African charity ensemble single “Tears Are Not Enough”, singing a duet with Mike Reno of Loverboy.

She competed as a vocalist on Star Search, winning the competition several weeks in a row.
Silver sang Amazing Grace at the funeral of controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
Silver continues to appear at jazz music festivals across the globe.

KOLETTE EASY

Powerhouse soul singer and songwriter, Kolette Easy, may be from Toronto, Canada but she quickly found herself right at home touring and performing across the globe in Southeast Asia for several years. While touring internationally she transcended barriers of language and culture with her voice and music. For Kolette venturing out of her comfort zone to fulfill her passion for singing has been one of her greatest musical achievements.

COLDJACK

International British / Canadian R.n.B / Soul / Funk radio chart band Coldjack are excited to be playing the Toronto Funk & Soul Festival.

They are signed to Thunder Dome Sounds and are produced by Juno-winner and Grammy- nominee, Mr. Eddie Bullen. Coldjack have been getting No 1 chart success and radio FM and internet play around the world. Their hit songs Woman’s World and Unconditional Love were No.1 in various FM Radio charts in Canada, the U.S / UK and Europe 2018 & 2019.

The band has some of the best well-known musicians from Toronto who bring a high energy show by seamlessly blending their radio-hit originals and their cover songs from such groups as Simply Red, Sade, AWB and many more to please any crowd.

John Fraser is the lead singer and song writer is from London, England. He has worked with Mark King and Mike Lindup of Level 42 with a song called Free Your Soul. The song was featured on the Coldjack album Spitfire Angels. John has also worked with International artists Kenny Thomas, Gary Numan and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd when getting permission to record Money to feature it also on the Spitfire Angels album.

The song Spitfire Angels was written by John Fraser for the BBC in London to honour the brave WW2 pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain and is now played on radio around the world on Remembrance Day and the band will play this song on June 14th show.

Huge thank you goes out to Paula Letang and the team for inviting us to play this fantastic festival and for supporting all the amazing Indie artists in Toronto and across Canada. The movement is growing all because of these wonderful stations and Dj’s playing all of our songs in Canada and around the world.

DENVER HAYLEE

Toronto-based R&B/Soul artist Denver Haylee is a singer, songwriter, and producer who creates music that pays tribute to love and it’s several manifestations in nature, relationships, and self. “Elegant, beautiful, & so talented … cannot wait to see & hear more of her in the music industry. -Denise Marie Kinsman, Exec. Producer – ThatChannel Studios

Denver has cemented her position as the next R&B talent out of Toronto during summer 2018 by following in footsteps of Nelly Furtado, Melanie Fiona, and Jully Black by being an attendee and Grand prize winner of Ebonnie Rowe’s Honey Jam Canada 2018 Programme.
Denver released her debut single “Body Sangin” which has been warmly received by Toronto’s r&b/soul & indie community. The sexy & male-empowering tune, written and co-produced by Denver Haylee and co-produced by Toronto producer/mixing engineer Zlender (Drake “Hotline Bling”, DJ Khaled feat. Drake “For Free”, French Montana feat. Drake “No Shopping”, Gucci Mane feat. Drake “Back on Road”), celebrates the disarming and healing effects that a man’s touch has on the female body. The single, released on August 23rd, 2018,
is now available on all streaming platforms. It makes sense that “Body Sangin’” has an early-90’s R&B/acoustic feel to it with Denver’s major influences being Feist, Jann Arden, Toni Braxton, and Tamia.

Denver’s self-produced EP set for release in Spring of 2019, “The Elements of Love”, highlights instances of affection, peace, compassion, and mercy throughout intimate relationships while celebrating the ability that men have to inspire and direct love powerfully yet with ease. Denver combines honest confessions of regret and loss with 6-string therapy in “Rewind”. Denver’s haunting “Like Water”, provides a testimonial of love from a higher power manifested in nature throughout her time on the Islands of Honolulu and Maui. “It was overwhelming for me to experience the cycles of nature that were taking place and to acknowledge that I was not only a mere witness but a willing participant. Total submission. Nature’s power was out of my control. So powerfully, yet with ease. I believe that this is what love from a partner is like too.. and I hope you experience that with my music.”

Denver Haylee jumped into the Toronto music scene after singing background vocals for r&b singer and friend TiKA in May 2017. This would be the first time Denver heard her own voice on a microphone but not her first time creating music. Denver received many requests that evening for links to her music and left people surprised when she had no music to offer. Denver began producing and writing demos on a plane ride back to returning from an inspiring trip to Hawaii. Denver began writing during her freshman year of college after being gifted acoustic guitar as a getaway from her exercise-science studies and training as a Division I NCAA basketball player at the University of Akron in Ohio, US. Denver shortly after uploaded an acoustic cover of “The Park” (Feist). Prior to her development as a songwriter, Denver attended Mayfield Secondary School of the Performing Arts for the bass clarinet and suppressed her vocal ability due to shyness.
Prior to moving to Canada at the age of 8, Denver was born in Birmingham, England to parents of British Jamaican and Trinidadian British background. Her father is Irwin “Soca Master” Sylvester (popular UK soca & DJ drummer of the 70’s disco band “The J.A.L.N Band”) and her uncle is the late Birmingham soul legend, Charlie “Wolfman” Sylvester. Please visit listentodenver.com for show dates.

LEVI LOBLACK

With his band Levitasyon Levi has promoted all forms of Caribbean music from reggae, calypso, soca, and kompa, as well as Dominica’s Jing Ping, Cadence-Lypso.

He has performed locally and internationally at numerous festivals, award shows, and community events, as well as numerous fundraising concerts assisting other Caribbean islands.

As a radio host he spent 10 years on CHRY 105.5 FM as a co-host on Toronto’s Experience Creole radio show that highlighted the French-Creole Caribbean’s Cadence-Lypso & Bouyon music, and although CHRY 105.5 FM closed it’s doors, Levi continues to volunteer his time by hosting and producing the radio show Memoire Creole heard Sunday afternoons on TDN Radio.net

He is also the leader of the band Levitasyon. His hard work leading the band has won many awards including an Urban Award song nomination, Caribbean & Lady of Good Council Certificates of Appreciation and the Pan Afrikan Community Award, and Caribbean Music & Entertainment Awards.

His contribution to art and culture has also been recognized by the Government of Dominica when he received The Golden Drum Award in 2016 – the highest award given to a cultural icon.

Along with The Golden Drum award Levi has won a number of awards recognizing his years of dedication to the art form including and award from The Dominica National Council with the Award For Outstanding Contribution to Cultural Development in the field of Entertainment, DBS Radio & Dompro Legends of Calypso Award, Dominican of Distinction Award – Commonwealth of Dominica Association Ontario, Best Creole Vocalist, People’s Choice Creole artist of the year at the Caribbean Entertainment Music Awards and Creole Unity Fete.

To date among his other musical accomplishments he has also written, produced and co-wrote two Creole cultural albums Nou Ka Woule and Ba Yo Sa. Nou Ka Woule produced the #1 song – Song For the children, and Ba Yo Sa producing the song Selebwasyon reaching #2 on the Dominica Radio Charts.

He loves to entertain and uplift his audience, and ensures that he promotes the Caribbean culture wherever he goes.